Oh what a day

ILoveFish · 02-02-2012, 07:00 PM

ive had one of my worst days fish keeping today,
i recived a phone call from my wife saying the pond had emptyed and the fish are under ice with a few inches of water, needless to say i rushed home to try and sort the situation out as fast as i could, on returning home my wife had switched off the filter and pump, i noticed that the pipes in the filter had frozen over witch in turn stopped the water being fed back in to the pond meaning it over flowed the top of the filtermaking a big ice puddle in the garden.
i only had avaliable tap water so i put the hose on and started to fill the pond
the fish apeared to be ok, as if that wasnt bad enough i went back in to the house to find that not only did my wife turn off the pond pumps but also turned off the pump in my 8foot marine tank which back syphoned in to the sump then over flowed all over my living room carpet and hall way, needless to say i rushed to switch it all back on and have spent since 10:30 am cleaning the living room up,

anyhow the room is drying nicely and all the fish both inside and out seem to be doing fine.

/Neil

Doghouse Riley · 02-02-2012, 07:56 PM

Sorry to hear of your distress Neil, glad you managed to get everything sorted.
Your sad experience is a salutary lesson to us all.
Hopefully the very low temperatures forecast for this week-end may not now materialise.
No doubt you'll think of something you can do to prevent this happening in future and be able to advise others with similar filter configurations.

faz201283 · 02-02-2012, 07:59 PM

know how ya feel pal, went out to check the fish last week and found about 5'' of water in the pond, the filter wool had been working overtime, caught that much dirt out of the water it stopped the water passing through and over flowed the filter

Doghouse Riley · 02-02-2012, 08:31 PM

As a precaution I've always had overflows in the top tanks of my filters which in the event of a blockage will return the water entering them straight back into the pool. They are two 1.5" pipes, as they are normally "dry" there's no chance of them freezing up.

Fortunately my filters are in the garage and insulated, they are maintaining the same temperature as the pool at present with some minimal heat, around 7C.

miles41 · 03-02-2012, 06:33 AM

What a disaster Neil, hope all is ok today with your fish

Limey · 03-02-2012, 07:14 AM

sorry to hear this and glad you sorted it and hope the fish stay ok. They can be much more resilient than we imagine sometimes.

ILoveFish · 03-02-2012, 07:25 AM

I have checked the fish this morning and they are doing fine just like nothing happened, thanks for your kind words, I'm thinking of adding an over flow pipe tonight but with the short day yesterday I may have to work late today so it will prob be the weekend now.

/Neil

wellsi · 03-02-2012, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley

As a precaution I've always had overflows in the top tanks of my filters which in the event of a blockage will return the water entering them straight back into the pool. They are two 1.5" pipes, as they are normally "dry" there's no chance of them freezing up.

Fortunately my filters are in the garage and insulated, they are maintaining the same temperature as the pool at present with some minimal heat, around 7C.

Hi Doghouse
I want to keep my filters in a shed away from the pond; how far from the pond is your garage? And have you half buried the returns?

ILoveFish
Mate; nightmare for you, inside and out; some jumbo greenhouse bubble wrap form your garden centre will help....
Ian

MarkD · 03-02-2012, 07:28 AM

Goodness, not something any of us wants to experience. Glad you have it sorted out.

Daran · 03-02-2012, 07:46 AM

Glad you got it all sorted m8

What you need is a float switch that will switch the pumps off when the water drops below a set level.

They are not expensive and gives you peace of mind if your pump fed

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